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'Kotaku' is hit by layoffs

Elder Legend

Elder Legend

Banned
Dick Jones said:
Hopefully Dr Dre keeps them in line
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My favorite part from this article. "The team’s current plan is to let people read two free articles per month before hitting a registration wall for the Aftermath newsletter. If you sign up for that, you’ll be able to read two more free articles before you run into a paywall. (Plunkett tells me that the team might be a little more elastic with that plan for the launch.) People who want to subscribe can pick from three tiers, which cost $7, $10, or $99 per month, with each offering unlimited access to articles and, depending on which tier you pay for, an increasing number of perks."

What a genius business idea. Yeah, let me pay money to read shit on the internet. This will backfire hard when people have access to free shit on YouTube. Hopefully that Aftermath shit crashes and burns.
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Elder Legend said:
My favorite part from this article. "The team’s current plan is to let people read two free articles per month before hitting a registration wall for the Aftermath newsletter. If you sign up for that, you’ll be able to read two more free articles before you run into a paywall. (Plunkett tells me that the team might be a little more elastic with that plan for the launch.) People who want to subscribe can pick from three tiers, which cost $7, $10, or $99 per month, with each offering unlimited access to articles and, depending on which tier you pay for, an increasing number of perks."

What a genius business idea. Yeah, let me pay money to read shit on the internet. This will backfire hard when people have access to free shit on YouTube. Hopefully that Aftermath shit crashes and burns.
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Who the fuck is going to pay $99 per month for a site mainly focused on video games? Who would even pay $7 for this site? I dont think they'll get sign ups to keep it afloat even it was 70 cents.
 
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Fbh

Fbh

Member
WGNLDBO.gif
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Elder Legend said:
That's what I'd like to know. It's hilarious.
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It'll be something stupid like something microtransaction-ish like they give $99 subbers a special profile skin or badge. Or they get access to shitty private podcasts or articles.

I never bothered subbing to it (and they eventually scrapped it as it got transitioned to Apple magazine subs), but around 6-7 years ago Roger Media had a monthly magazine sub plan for $9.99. I forget what it was called but you got like 50 magazines per month. And a lot of them were well known mags. I didn't bother because I'm fine reading whatever is on the net for free, but I was tempted as MacLeans Magazine and Sports Illustrated was there as a start.

How and why anyone would sub to Aftermath for $7, $10 or $99 is crazy.

I flipped through a bunch of their articles and it's super bland stuff where each article is literally maybe two pages of text if written on paper. Someone could write, edit and post it in half an hour.
 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Gold Member
Drizzlehell said:
Finally then can move on to something more productive that's more befitting of their talents:
wagie-wojak.gif
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Bad idea, i don't wanna a lecture on modern day oppression and patriarchy while i order my cheeseburger.

Also, i'm not sure if they have the skill to even make a mcflurry...
 
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TerribleAtThisGame

TerribleAtThisGame

Member
GymWolf said:
Bad idea, i don't wanna a lecture on modern day oppression and patriarchy while i order my cheeseburger.

Also, i'm not sure if they have the skill to even make a mcflurry...
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You'd have to be more than a narcissistic, self-aggrandizing slacktivist to hold an actual job like this down. Just imagine dealing with this shit: I couldn't get to work today because I felt physically threatened when I played a videogame last night and need a mental health day to cope. Now some poor fucking lady from Ecuador with two babies and actual problems needs to work a triple shift, good job.
 
Laieon

Laieon

Member
Clear said:
The cultural landscape is shifting
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Agreed, but not in the way you think it is. I also don't think this is the start at all, this is just the continuation of trends we've seen over the past decade.

This is just a result of consumers preferring video (and short-form, tiktok-esque at that with younger demographics) content over written content. Kotaku and sites like it are dying for the exact same reason we're seeing printed media like newspapers and magazines dying across the country. I can't speak for other countries, but Americans just don't like to read (and certainly not as much as they used to). The elections over the past week showed that the cultural landscape is still very much shifting to the left.

Kotaku and sites like it are just outdated because Reddit, discords, and bigger relevant sites and groups are going to break major news long before they do, and seem to be giant content farms for sites owned by Gawker. I'm sure with Brian Crescente, Stephen Totilo, and Jason Schrier (I know I probably butchered their names) gone, they probably don't have nearly the reach they once had in the industry either. Few would consider blogs their primary news sources anymore.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Laieon said:
Agreed, but not in the way you think it is. I also don't think this is the start at all, this is just the continuation of trends we've seen over the past decade.

This is just a result of consumers preferring video (and short-form, tiktok-esque at that with younger demographics) content over written content. Kotaku and sites like it are dying for the exact same reason we're seeing printed media like newspapers and magazines dying across the country. I can't speak for other countries, but Americans just don't like to read (and certainly not as much as they used to). The elections over the past week showed that the cultural landscape is still very much shifting to the left.
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I disagree for a number of reasons.

First of all using political results as a cultural barometer can be very misleading; if anything I feel like there's an inverse correlation due particularly to the youthful cohort actively rebelling against what's perceived to be the current orthodoxy. Young people see an imperfect world and demand change, and lacking (in a majority of cases) the wisdom of experience gravitate toward the most polar opposite in order to effect the swiftest change.

Secondly, you are falling victim to what I call the "internet fallacy". Which simply put is believing that once people stop tweeting, they no longer exist. In my opinion its a distorted view of economics created by those married to the idea that advertising/engagement is the only thing that matters.

Once people develop a distaste for something, how its presented and promoted no longer matter. You actually need to change the product.

This is because once the audience is alienated, they don't stop consuming. They simply move on to a replacement.

Irreversible decline then sets in because they cannot replace the numbers they are losing, the demographics make it untenable.
 
Roxkis_ii

Roxkis_ii

Member
Damn, I was for sure all their rage bait, and virtue signaling would surely make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. /s

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